1984 - A Ballet by Jonathan Watkins [Blu-ray]

Winner of The South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance 2016. Widely lauded by critics, choreographer Jonathan Watkins' 1984 is an awe-inspiring retelling of George Orwell's masterpiece. Winston Smith lives in a world of absolute conformity, his every action scrutinised by Big Brother. However, when Winston meets Julia, he dares to rebel by falling in love. Danced by Northern Ballet – the UK's foremost narrative ballet company – to a score by Tony-nominated composer Alex Baranowski, this thoroughly modern take on Nineteen Eighty-Four will change the way you think about ballet. 'Batley [Winston Smith] and Leebolt [Julia] are excellent, their bodies as vividly present as their faces are haunted. At the chilling end, we realise not only how intently we have been watching, but also that we too may be watched.' Sanjoy Roy, The Guardian

'This is gripping storytelling' (The Stage)

'...an ambitious, compelling and, ultimately, moving new ballet. Even more powerful are the intimate duets for Winston and Julia, verboten lovers who are dancing on a metaphorical razor's edge. Thinking themselves free of the gaze of Big Brother, they give themselves to each other with a genuinely moving passion, which is danced gorgeously by Tobias Batley and Martha Leebolt' (The Daily Telegraph)

'Jonathan Watkins' gripping production employs subtleties of gesture, posture and phrasing to create a thoroughly modern take on George Orwell's classic George Orwell's 1984 – a story of centralised surveillance, mutual monitoring and vanishing privacy – is a very contemporary tale. Yet with its gloomy ambience and dated video graphics, Northern Ballet's terrific new production mixes the postwar look of the late 1940s with the clunky tech of the early 1980s. Rather than updating the story to make it "relevant" to today, this version snares you in more underhand ways'. (The Guardian)